Friday, June 30, 2023

Eric DeValkenaere: Missouri: Police use of deadly force: From our 'Something is wrong in this picture' department: The current Attorney General of a state which is notorious for resisting the release of innocent people such as Lemay Johnson and Kenneth Strickland is seeking reversal of a former detective's conviction in a black man's death, The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint (Reporters Margaret Stafford and Summer Ballentine) reports..."In an unusual legal move, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is asking a state appeals court to reverse the conviction of a white former Kansas City police detective who shot and killed a Black man three years ago. In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere’s conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019. Bailey asked the court to reverse DeValkenaere’s conviction or order a new trial. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office secured DeValkenaere’s conviction, said the motion by the attorney general — the state’s top law enforcement officer — to challenge a conviction was “unprecedented” and an affront to the people of Kansas City. In a news conference on Monday, she accused Bailey, a Republican who was appointed to the attorney general’s office in January, of “attempting to expand his power to that of a judge.” “I can’t say in my time, 25 plus years of being here, that I’ve seen anything like this before,” Baker said. Cameron Lamb’s father, Aqil Bey, said at the news conference that Bailey’s actions were a miscarriage of justice. He said DeValkanaere had been given every legal advantage, including not having to serve a day in jail since his conviction."



PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Bailey’s predecessor, Eric Schmidt, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, strongly opposed efforts by Baker and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to release two men — Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — who they believed were jailed for murders they didn’t commit. Both men were eventually released from prison."

------------------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Rumors had swirled in the last month that Republican Gov. Mike Parson was considering pardoning or granting clemency to DeValkenaere, prompting Baker to send him a letter urging him not to do so. Civil rights advocates warned that releasing the former detective could cause unrest in the city and damage an already tense relationship between police and Kansas City’s minority community."

--------------------------------------------

STORY: "Missouri Attorney General Seeks Reversal of Former Detective's Conviction in Black Man's Death," by Associated Press Reporters Margaret Stafford and Summer Ballentine, published by  The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, on June 26, 2023.

SUB-HEADING: "In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere's conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019."


------------------------------------------------------------------------


GIST: "In an unusual legal move, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is asking a state appeals court to reverse the conviction of a white former Kansas City police detective who shot and killed a Black man three years ago.

In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere’s conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019.

Bailey asked the court to reverse DeValkenaere’s conviction or order a new trial.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office secured DeValkenaere’s conviction, said the motion by the attorney general — the state’s top law enforcement officer — to challenge a conviction was “unprecedented” and an affront to the people of Kansas City.

In a news conference on Monday, she accused Bailey, a Republican who was appointed to the attorney general’s office in January, of “attempting to expand his power to that of a judge.”

“I can’t say in my time, 25 plus years of being here, that I’ve seen anything like this before,” Baker said.

Cameron Lamb’s father, Aqil Bey, said at the news conference that Bailey’s actions were a miscarriage of justice. He said DeValkanaere had been given every legal advantage, including not having to serve a day in jail since his conviction.

“We don’t feel good about it. But we are going to continue to let the legal system run its course, and we’ll see what happens,” Bey said.

Ben Trachtenberg, a University of Missouri School of Law professor and expert in criminal law, agreed that Bailey’s decision was unusual, noting the state’s attorney general’s office has a history of vigorously defending convictions, even in cases where the local prosecutor is trying to overturn a conviction.

Bailey’s predecessor, Eric Schmidt, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, strongly opposed efforts by Baker and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to release two men — Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — who they believed were jailed for murders they didn’t commit. Both men were eventually released from prison.

Still, Trachtenberg said Bailey was within his authority in not defending DeValkenaere’s conviction.

“The attorney general’s office does have broad responsibility for dealing with criminal appeals,” he said. “But lawyers don’t have to defend every single case. The attorney general’s office’s highest duty is to pursue justice. If they think somebody is innocent, they don’t have to defend the conviction.”

DeValkenaere was convicted in November 2021 of killing Lamb, who was shot as he backed his truck into his garage. Police said DeValkenaere and his partner, Troy Schwalm, went to Lamb’s home after reports that Lamb was involved in a car chase with his girlfriend on residential streets.

Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs, who convicted the former detective after a bench trial, sentenced DeValkenaere to three years for involuntary manslaughter and six years for armed criminal action, with the sentences to run consecutively.

But Youngs later ruled that DeValkenaere could remain free while his conviction is appealed.

In his motion, Bailey said Lamb’s death was “tragic” and shouldn’t have happened. But he argued that DeValkenaere used reasonable force because he believed Lamb was going to shoot Schwalm. The motion, which includes several pages reiterating the police department’s version of events, said officers believed they saw Lamb with a handgun inside the truck, and a handgun was found near the truck after Lamb was shot.

“DeValkenaere’s use of force was reasonable in light of Mr. Lamb’s use of deadly force against Schwalm, and the court erred as a matter of fact and law in determining that Schwalm and DeValkenaere were the initial aggressors,” Bailey wrote. “DeValkenaere also was not criminally negligent.”

Prosecutors and Lamb’s family had alleged the handgun was planted after the shooting. But Youngs did not address that issue when he convicted the detective.

Instead, the judge said the officers had no probable cause to believe that any crime had been committed, had no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and had no search warrant or consent to be on the property. He said police were the initial aggressors and they had a duty to retreat, but DeValkenaere illegally used deadly force instead.

Rumors had swirled in the last month that Republican Gov. Mike Parson was considering pardoning or granting clemency to DeValkenaere, prompting Baker to send him a letter urging him not to do so. Civil rights advocates warned that releasing the former detective could cause unrest in the city and damage an already tense relationship between police and Kansas City’s minority community.

Parson said last week that he had not yet decided what action to take and criticized Baker for using the case for political purposes."

The entire story can be read at:

https://sdvoice.info/missouri-attorney-general-seeks-reversal-of-former-detectives-conviction-in-black-mans-death/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


------------------------------------------------------------------


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Brian Anderson; Allan Woodhouse: Manitoba: False confession case: (Major Welcome) Development: Canada's Minister of Justice has ordered a new trial - having found there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice has occurred..."From 'Background.' (Jason Flom's Apple podcast)...Four false statements were extracted and written in a language that neither of the accused fully understood. Not surprisingly, none of the physical evidence matched the four young men. Despite this, their alibi witnesses, and accusations of police brutality, the jury chose to believe the false confessions."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects (especially young suspects)  are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including inducement. deception (read ‘outright lies’) physical violence,  and even physical and mental torture.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

BACKGROUND: "Jason Flom's apple podcast: "On July 17, 1973, 40 year old father of two and local chef Ting Fong Chan was beaten and stabbed to death on his way home from his night shift in Manitoba, Winnipeg, CA. A witness saw silhouettes of 4 or 5 men with long hair. Under the assumption that the men were Native American, police began to canvas the local indigenous population. A man named Adam Woodhouse told investigators about a recent gathering at his home with a few other indigenous men. Even though this gathering did not take place on the night of the crime and nothing suspicious was described, police rounded up Clarence, Russell, and Allan Woodhouse, as well as Brian Anderson. Four false statements were extracted and written in a language that neither of the accused fully understood. Not surprisingly, none of the physical evidence matched the four young men. Despite this, their alibi witnesses, and accusations of police brutality, the jury chose to believe the false confessions."

Link to the podcast - and  background materials:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/252-jason-flom-with-allan-woodhouse-and-brian-anderson/id1151670380?i=1000556376995

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM THE RELEASE: "The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, announced today that, following an extensive review, he has ordered a new trial for Mr. Brian Anderson and Mr. Allan Woodhouse under the conviction review provisions of the Criminal Code.

Before deciding to order a new trial or appeal, the Minister of Justice must be satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred. This determination involves a close examination of information initially submitted in support of the application, followed by an in-depth investigation. A key consideration is whether the application is supported by new matters of significance, such as new information that has surfaced since the trial and appeal.

The Minister has determined that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred. This is the result of the identification of new information that was not before the courts at the time of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse’s trials or appeals. The Minister’s decision to order a new trial is not a decision about the guilt or innocence of the applicants. It is a decision to return the matter to the courts where the relevant legal issues may be determined according to the law.

In 1974, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse, both Indigenous men, were convicted of a single count of non-capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for ten years. Their appeals to the Manitoba Court of Appeal were dismissed on November 8, 1974. In 1975, Mr. Anderson sought and was denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. Anderson was released on parole in 1987 and Mr. Woodhouse in 1990. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse submitted applications for criminal conviction review in 2019 and 2020, respectively."

The entire release can be read at:


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


------------------------------------------------------------------


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Exonerated Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam: Major (Welcome) Development: CNN projected that he has won a New York City Council seat, KTVZ ( CNN Reporter Sydney Kashiwagi, reports... "Salaam was one of five teenagers accused of raping a jogger and pressured into giving false confessions. They were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. The teenagers sued New York City and the case was later settled. In the wake of the crime in 1989, former President Donald Trump took out full-page newspaper ads that read: “Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!”


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Tuesday night, Salaam recalled to his supporters what it was like to see those ads at the time. “There were large ads bought in 1989, a whisper for the state to kill us,” Salaam said. “A whisper, in fact, into the darkest enclaves of society for them to do to us what they had done to Emmett Till.” Trump said in an interview with Larry King that his newspaper ads were not “pre-judging” the five teens, but rather advocating for their execution if they were to be found guilty and the victim died. Trump also said his ads did not apply to minors, but said minors convicted of crimes should be locked up for a long time in the prison system. The former president has never apologized for taking out the ads."

STORY: Exonerated Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam poised to win New York City Council seat," by Reporter Sydney Kashiwagi,  published by KTVZ, on June 28, 2023.

GIST:  "An exonerated member of the Central Park Five, Yusef Salaam, is poised to win a Democratic primary race for a New York City Council seat in Harlem.


Salaam declared victory at a campaign event in Harlem Tuesday night, where he thanked the community for giving him a “second chance” after his exoneration and spoke about the adversity he once faced.


“This campaign has been about those who have been counted out,” Salaam said. 

“This campaign has been about those who have been forgotten. This campaign has been about our Harlem community who has been pushed into the margins of life and made to believe that they were supposed to be there.”


New York City uses a system known as ranked choice voting in primary and special elections for many local offices, where voters can rank up to five candidates in order of their preferences. A candidate who receives more than 50% of first-choice votes is declared the winner. 


If no candidate meets that mark, the candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated and their ballots get redistributed to voters’ next choice. That process continues until there are only two candidates left and the candidate with the most votes wins.


As of Wednesday morning, Salaam had received 50.1% of the vote. CNN has not yet projected a winner in the race, and mail ballots that were postmarked Tuesday can still be received until July 4, but even if Salaam finishes just under 50%, he’d still easily be the best-positioned candidate to win once votes start getting redistributed.


The winner of the primary is almost certain to win the seat given the heavy Democratic tilt of the district.


Salaam was one of five teenagers accused of raping a jogger and pressured into giving false confessions. They were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. The teenagers sued New York City and the case was later settled.


In the wake of the crime in 1989, former President Donald Trump took out full-page newspaper ads that read: “Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!”


The entire story can be read at:


https://ktvz.com/news/2023/06/28/exonerated-central-park-five-member-yusef-salaam-poised-to-win-new-york-city-council-seat/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


------------------------------------------------------------------


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Rodney Reed: Texas; State accused of illegally hiding evidence for 23 years that could have exonerated him in death row case; Bulletin: Major (Unwelcome) Development: Another dark day in Texas: The Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected his innocence claims and plea for a new trial, KXAN Austin (Reporter David Barer) reports...“For 23 years, Texas illegally hid evidence that could have exonerated Rodney Reed. He is an innocent man. Texans should be outraged that prosecutorial misconduct is going unchecked and the State is being given a license to cheat – even if it means sending an innocent man to his death,” Pucher said in a statement. “Mr. Reed’s conviction and death sentence violates the most central tenets of our Constitution and cannot stand. We will continue to fight for Mr. Reed’s freedom and bring him home to his family.”


BACKGROUND:  (Innocence Project): Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) denied Rodney Reed’s motion for habeas relief and a new trial, rejecting overwhelming evidence supporting his innocence and demonstrating prosecutorial misconduct. While we are devastated by this ruling, we know the fight to save Rodney is not over — and we won’t give up. In a statement after the ruling came down, Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Jane Pucher, who is one of Rodney’s attorneys, said, “In 2019, when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Rodney Reed’s execution to allow the courts to consider his Brady, false testimony, and actual innocence claims, the CCA entrusted Judge Langley with making impartial findings and independent assessments of witnesses’ credibility, supported by the evidence. That did not happen. It is not plausible that Judge Langley could find every witness for the State to be credible and every witness called by Mr. Reed to be not credible.” For more than two decades, Rodney has been on death row in Texas despite mounting evidence pointing to his innocence. Rodney, a Black man, was convicted by an all-white jury of the 1996 murder of a white woman named Stacey Stites. At the time, Stacey was having a consensual relationship with Rodney, while she was engaged to a police officer named Jimmy Fennell. But the prosecution told the jury that they had searched everywhere and no one ever said Rodney and Stacey knew each other. But it was recently discovered that the prosecutors did have information that Rodney and Stacey knew each other, and at the 1998 trial, they illegally concealed statements made by Stacey’s co-workers that showed she and Rodney were romantically involved. The State also illegally concealed statements from Stacey’s neighbors about loud, violent arguments between Stacey and her fiancé, who was the prime suspect in her murder for nearly a year. At the recent evidentiary hearing, Rodney presented new, overwhelming evidence of his innocence — but the Texas CCA shut him down. “Texans should be outraged that prosecutorial misconduct is going unchecked and the State is being given a license to cheat — even if it means sending an innocent man to his death,” Jane Pucher said. “Mr. Reed’s conviction and death sentence violates the most central tenets of our Constitution and cannot stand. We will continue to fight for Mr. Reed’s freedom and bring him home to his family.” 

Read more about what happened in Rodney’s case today and what’s next in his fight for freedom and justice.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGsnLPWkgxSHWBwtqscLjZWBhxG

-------------------------------------------------------------------


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: “The CCA entrusted Judge Langley with making impartial findings and independent assessments of witnesses’ credibility, supported by the evidence. That did not happen,” Pucher said. “It is not plausible that Judge Langley could find every witness for the State to be credible and every witness called by Mr. Reed to be not credible.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejects Rodney Reed's innocence claims and new trial," by Reporter David Barer, published by KXAN Austin, on June 28, 2023.

GIST: "Texas’ highest criminal appeals court on Wednesday rejected death-row inmate Rodney Reed’s most recent applications claiming his innocence and seeking a new trial.


The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejections – years in the making – are the culmination of a massive effort by Reed’s defense team that included a two-week evidentiary hearing in Bastrop in July 2021.


 Dozens of witnesses testified, including the victim Stacey Stites’ mother and her former fiancé Jimmy Fennell.


Reed, now 55, was convicted and sentenced to death in Bastrop County for the murder of 19-year-old Stites in 1996. Reed has maintained his innocence and has fought for years with the legal assistance of the New York-based Innocence Project.


Over the years, Reed’s legal team has filed 10 applications for relief with the CCA, and all have failed. On Wednesday the CCA rejected his ninth and tenth applications.


Jane Pucher, a staff attorney with the Innocence Project representing Reed, panned the CCA’s decision and accused the state of withholding evidence and violating Reed’s constitutional rights.


“For 23 years, Texas illegally hid evidence that could have exonerated Rodney Reed. He is an innocent man. Texans should be outraged that prosecutorial misconduct is going unchecked and the State is being given a license to cheat – even if it means sending an innocent man to his death,” Pucher said in a statement. “Mr. Reed’s conviction and death sentence violates the most central tenets of our Constitution and cannot stand. We will continue to fight for Mr. Reed’s freedom and bring him home to his family.”

Ninth application

Reed filed his ninth application for writ of habeas corpus in November 2019, and the CCA remanded the case back to Bastrop District Court for further development of three of Reed’s claims: a Brady claim, false testimony and actual innocence. A two-week evidentiary hearing was held in July 2021 to examine claims in Reed’s ninth petition. A Brady claim occurs if prosecutors withhold evidence favorable to the defendant.


Following that evidentiary hearing, presiding Judge J.D. Langley delivered his recommendation that Reed’s conviction stand and relief be denied.


CCA judges sided with Langley. They said Reed’s ninth application claims “do not warrant relief,” and he failed to prove the state suppressed material evidence or presented materially false testimony at trial.


“We deny relief and dismiss any remaining claims as abuses of the writ,” according to the 129-page opinion. Seven of the CCA’s nine judges joined in rejecting Reed’s applications, while one dissented and another did not participate, according to the opinion.


Reed was scheduled to be executed in 2015 and 2019. In both instances, the execution was stayed. The most recent stay in 2019 has remained in place. It is not clear how the CCA’s latest rejections will impact the pause on Reed’s execution.


Pucher described Langley’s recommendation as a “rubber stamp” on the state’s proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law following the evidentiary hearing.


“The CCA entrusted Judge Langley with making impartial findings and independent assessments of witnesses’ credibility, supported by the evidence. That did not happen,” Pucher said. “It is not plausible that Judge Langley could find every witness for the State to be credible and every witness called by Mr. Reed to be not credible.”


Tenth application

In December 2021, Reed filed his tenth application, which the CCA also rejected Wednesday. That tenth application related, in part, to disclosure letters sent to Reed’s attorneys prior to the beginning of the evidentiary hearing.


Reed’s attorneys said the disclosures revealed witnesses that hinted at a relationship between Stites and Reed and should have been available at trial 23 years prior.



The CCA judges concluded Reed had not the burden “to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that he is actually innocent of Stacey’s murder. Reed presents no new evidence of innocence.”


The entire story can be read at:


https://www.kxan.com/investigations/texas-court-of-criminal-appeals-rejects-rodney-reeds-innocence-claims-and-new-trial/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


------------------------------------------------------------------


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

New York's 'Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act.'... As 'Wonkette' puts it - in a compelling commentary by Robyn Pennacchia - the state is (hopefully) about to make it easier to get innocent people out of prison - especially those who plead guilty to crimes they did not actually commit and are (as the law stands now) unable to appeal because they have no DNA evidence with which to challenge their convictions..."The New York State Assembly passed the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act last week along party lines, and if Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs it (this week, hopefully), it will become law. As it currently stands, those who plead guilty to crimes they did not actually commit are only able to challenge their convictions based on DNA evidence. While this may sound something like "common sense" to some, assuming those who plead guilty must actually be guilty, innocent people plead guilty all the time. Indeed, 18 percent of known exonerees pleaded guilty to crimes they didn't commit. This new law would allow those who plead guilty to file claims of actual innocence based on things other than DNA evidence, and establish pathways for anyone wrongly convicted to prove their innocence. For instance, if evidence or expert testimony that was relied upon in court or as the basis of a plea agreement was later proven false; if the suspect was incapable, for reasons of mental disease or defect, of understanding or participating in the proceedings; improper conduct not appearing in the record that would have made possible a reversal of judgment; new evidence that, had it been presented at trial, would have likely resulted in a different outcome; if they were convicted of crimes they committed as a victim of sex trafficking; and more."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Don't  be fooled by the name. 'Wonkette is a serious, relevant liberal publication which I enjoy reading from time to time. As the Wikipedia entry reads: "Wonkette covers U.S. politics from Washington, D.C. to local schoolboards. Taking a sarcastic tone, the site focuses heavily on humorous breaking news, rumors, and the downfall of the powerful. It also deals with serious matters of politics and policy, producing in-depth analysis."

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Giving the wrongfully convicted the ability to challenge evidence later proven to be false is especially important, given how often junk science sends people to prison. We are still regularly convicting people for causing "shaken baby syndrome" when we know for a fact that the criteria used to determine that a baby's death was caused by "shaking" is absolute nonsense. People are serving time in prison and are still convicted based on bite mark analysis, blood spatter analysis, fiber analysis and other CSI-inspired nonsense. The bill will also allow those previously convicted of things that are no longer actual crimes to have their convictions vacated, and give those convicted of crimes the right to a post-conviction attorney for these challenges, and the right to view the evidence files of both the prosecution and the defense."

-------------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "We can't pretend we don't know that innocent people plead guilty when it's something we've seen before.  We can't pretend we don't know that wrongful convictions don't happen when we know that they do. Because of that, those who have been convicted need to have recourse. That is the "price to pay" for police and prosecutors "getting" to have a system that makes it very easy and convenient for them to convict people who are not actually guilty."


--------------------------------------------------------


PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Naturally, the bill has been opposed by the District Attorneys Association, which represents prosecutors in the state and is led by former member of the Assembly and current Washington County District Attorney Anthony Jordan. “It would be an entirely unnecessary ‘fix’ for something that is not broken,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “In addition, the bill would overwhelm the criminal justice system, at a time when the next straw might be the one that breaks its back. Finally, the bill would eliminate finality in criminal convictions in this state, to the detriment of all New Yorkers.” Again, New York has had more wrongful convictions than 46 other states, so clearly something is broken. As understandable as it is, emotionally, "finality" for victims is just not a good enough reason to keep innocent people behind bars. While it may give victims peace of mind to believe they "got the guy," whether that is factually true or not, those who are imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit are also victims, and victimizing them to placate the victims of another crime is cruel and ridiculous. If prosecutors want to give victims that kind of peace of mind, they should be working toward a more accurate justice system.  They should be pushing to outlaw the Reid technique and looking into some of their own practices as well.  A recent study found that 550 wrongful death row convictions were the result of prosecutorial misconduct"


------------------------------------------------------


COMMENTARY: "New York Is (Hopefully) About To Make It Easier To Get Innocent People Out Of Prison," by Reporter Robin Pennacchia, published by Wonkette, on June 26, 2023. (Robyn Pennacchia is a brilliant, fabulously talented and visually stunning angel of a human being, who shrugged off what she is pretty sure would have been a Tony Award-winning career in musical theater in order to write about stuff on the internet.)

 GIST: "It is hopefully about to become a lot easier to free those wrongfully convicted in New York's justice system — which is a pretty big deal, since the state currently ranks third in the nation for wrongful convictions. 

The New York State Assembly passed the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act last week along party lines, and if Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs it (this week, hopefully), it will become law.

As it currently stands, those who plead guilty to crimes they did not actually commit are only able to challenge their convictions based on DNA evidence.


 While this may sound something like "common sense" to some, assuming those who plead guilty must actually be guilty, innocent people plead guilty all the time. 


Indeed, 18 percent of known exonerees pleaded guilty to crimes they didn't commit.


This new law would allow those who plead guilty to file claims of actual innocence based on things other than DNA evidence, and establish pathways for anyone wrongly convicted to prove their innocence.


 For instance, if evidence or expert testimony that was relied upon in court or as the basis of a plea agreement was later proven false; if the suspect was incapable, for reasons of mental disease or defect, of understanding or participating in the proceedings; improper conduct not appearing in the record that would have made possible a reversal of judgment; new evidence that, had it been presented at trial, would have likely resulted in a different outcome; if they were convicted of crimes they committed as a victim of sex trafficking; and more.


Giving the wrongfully convicted the ability to challenge evidence later proven to be false is especially important, given how often junk science sends people to prison. We are still regularly convicting people for causing "shaken baby syndrome" when we know for a fact that the criteria used to determine that a baby's death was caused by "shaking" is absolute nonsense.


 People are serving time in prison and are still convicted based on bite mark analysis, blood spatter analysis, fiber analysis and other CSI-inspired nonsense.


The bill will also allow those previously convicted of things that are no longer actual crimes to have their convictions vacated, and give those convicted of crimes the right to a post-conviction attorney for these challenges, and the right to view the evidence files of both the prosecution and the defense.


“When our laws change, we must consider the lingering effects of our old laws and how they may still be harming people,” said Assembly member Jeffrion Aubry. “For too long, our justice system incentivized plea bargains over trials, and we must ensure that individuals who may have been pressured into plea bargains as a result of that system have the same rights to redress. We must update our laws to ensure that anyone wrongfully or improperly convicted of a crime is able to clear their name, once and for all.”


Perhaps the most famous example of innocent people pleading guilty is the case of the Central Park Five, the five young Black men that police coerced into pleading guilty to the rape of the Central Park jogger. Three of the five, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana, have been instrumental in advocating for this bill to become law. They were "lucky" enough to be exonerated by DNA, but 90 percent of criminal cases don't involve any DNA whatsoever.


The interview technique that police in the United States practice, the Reid technique, is actually banned in several other countries, due to the fact that it is practically designed to elicit false confessions.


Officers are legally allowed to lie to suspects and tell them they have enough evidence to convict them and send them to prison for life and that their only way out is to confess and plead guilty in order to get a lighter sentence.


 That's a bargain that a lot of people are willing to take under pressure.


We can't pretend we don't know that innocent people plead guilty when it's something we've seen before. 


We can't pretend we don't know that wrongful convictions don't happen when we know that they do.


 Because of that, those who have been convicted need to have recourse.


That is the "price to pay" for police and prosecutors "getting" to have a system that makes it very easy and convenient for them to convict people who are not actually guilty.


Naturally, the bill has been opposed by the District Attorneys Association, which represents prosecutors in the state and is led by former member of the Assembly and current Washington County District Attorney Anthony Jordan.


“It would be an entirely unnecessary ‘fix’ for something that is not broken,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “In addition, the bill would overwhelm the criminal justice system, at a time when the next straw might be the one that breaks its back. Finally, the bill would eliminate finality in criminal convictions in this state, to the detriment of all New Yorkers.”


Again, New York has had more wrongful convictions than 46 other states, so clearly something is broken.


As understandable as it is, emotionally, "finality" for victims is just not a good enough reason to keep innocent people behind bars. While it may give victims peace of mind to believe they "got the guy," whether that is factually true or not, those who are imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit are also victims, and victimizing them to placate the victims of another crime is cruel and ridiculous.


 If prosecutors want to give victims that kind of peace of mind, they should be working toward a more accurate justice system. 


They should be pushing to outlaw the Reid technique and looking into some of their own practices as well. 


A recent study found that 550 wrongful death row convictions were the result of prosecutorial misconduct.


 If they want victims to have "finality" then they need to care more about whether the people they send to prison are actually guilty than they do about their own conviction records.


We have somehow moved from "it's better for 10 guilty people to escape than for one innocent person to suffer" to "It's better for an innocent person to suffer if that makes the victim of another person's crime feel better," and that just doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Something's gotta give — and it will, as long as Kathy Hochul signs this very important bill into law."


Robyn PennacRobyn Pennacchia is a brilliant, fabulously talented and visually stunning angel of a human being, who shrugged off what she is pretty sure would have been a Tony Award-winning career in musical theater in order to write about stuff on the internet. Follow her on Twitter at @RobynElyse
The entire commentary can be read at:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


------------------------------------------------------------------


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------